The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted in March 2010 during the Barack Obama administration. It seeks to open the opportunity for the population to access health insurance.
ACA has three main objectives, the first is to make health insurance more accessible to the population and achieve coverage with greater scope. This law provides subsidies to consumers, which reduce costs for low-income households.
Another goal is to expand the Medicaid program, so that all adults with incomes below 138% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) have health insurance services. The third objective is to promote new methods of health care delivery, which reduce costs.
Immigrants
Only naturalized immigrants have the same access to the ACA as Americans by birth, and they get the same benefits from low-cost coverage.
On the other hand, legal immigrants who have household income less than 100% FPL and are not eligible for Medicaid are eligible for ACA subsidies, if they meet the eligibility.
Undocumented immigrants are only eligible for emergency services through the ACA. They are not eligible for federal subsidies or programs like Medicaid.
